'Wolves,' 'Lambs' and more from MGM library headed to Amazon Prime

By Ben Fritz

June 13, 2012 12 AM PT

“The Terminator,” “Rain Man,” “Dances With Wolves,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and hundreds of other films and television shows made between the 1980s and 2000s owned by MGM are being added to Amazon’s Netflix-like subscription service.

The deal is the latest in a flurry by Amazon in the last year with studios including Paramount, Disney and Fox to beef up the library of videos it provides to customers who subscribe to its Amazon Prime service. In total, it now offers more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes.

MGM, meanwhile, under new ownership that took over the historic studio in late 2010, is searching for ways to make more money off its library of 4,000 movies. The Beverly Hills-based company has signed deals with Netflix, YouTube and other digital distributors.

Some but not all of the movies coming to Amazon Prime Instant Video are already available in the U.S. via Netflix, which is the dominant player in the subscription video business ahead of Amazon.

The Amazon agreement also includes several television shows owned by MGM, including “Stargate Atlantis” and “thirtysomething.”

However it does not include MGM movies from Hollywood’s golden age like “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind.” Rights to those pictures are now controlled by Warner Bros.

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